Syria accused Israel of carrying out airstrikes near Damascus just before dawn on Monday, saying that its air defense units had “confronted the Israeli aggression”, EDNews.net reports citing Bulgarian Military News.
Syrian state media SANA said Israeli jets had fired several missiles from Lebanese airspace and these had been intercepted. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
Syria media regularly claims alleged Israeli strikes fail to hit their targets, though those assertions are questionable.
There was no immediate comment from Israel.
Though Israeli officials generally refrain from taking responsibility for specific strikes in Syria, they have acknowledged conducting hundreds to thousands of raids in the country since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
These have overwhelmingly been directed against Iran and its proxies, notably the Lebanese-based Hezbollah terror group, but the IDF has also carried out strikes on Syrian air defenses when those batteries have fired at Israeli jets.
Last week Syria accused Israel of hitting targets near Homs.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said the targets were “military posts for Iranian militias in the Palmyra desert.”
Jerusalem says Iran’s presence in Syria, where it is fighting in support of President Bashar Assad, is a threat, as Tehran seeks to establish a permanent foothold along Israel’s northern borders.